Russian
immigrant Vasily Ryjov will be able to pick up the pieces of his slain
wife's shattered American dream.

The
Immigration and Naturalization Service plans to work toward granting the
illegal immigrant a green card, helping him fulfill his wife's hopes of
citizenship for her family, Sen. Chuck Schumer announced yesterday.

"The effects [of 9/11] are still here," said Ryjov, 38, who
was surrounded by his sons Alex, 15, and Daniel, 9. "I'm just here
to finish what she started."

"When you have news like this, it gives you strength. It gives you
stamina," he added. "She came . . . hoping that the kids have
a better future."

She had moved to the United
States in 1989 on a temporary
visa with her oldest son and, after winning a green card lottery months
before she died last year, was on track to become a citizen.

Her husband followed her as a visitor in 1991 and stayed in the country
illegally with his family.

Weeks after the terrorist attack and his wife's death, Ryjov was faced
with deportation to the former Soviet republic
of Georgia
because of his alien status.

Schumer was able to smooth the bureaucratic red tape and help the grieving
family stay in the U.S.

"With all they've been through, deporting a family who had suffered
such a loss in the World
Trade
Center
attacks would be unconscionable,"
Schumer said. "Part of their lives was shattered on Sept. 11. It
would be a shame to shatter their dream of remaining in America
."

Patriot Act clause

Ryjov's immigration lawyer, Michael Wildes,
said his client would have been forced to leave his sons behind in America
or take them back to the former Soviet Union.

Alex was granted a green card last week. Daniel, a third-grader, was born
in the U.S.

Ryjov is able to stay here with his family because of a clause in the
Patriot Act that allows immigrant spouses of 9/11 victims to file for
green cards, Wildes said.

Asked what it means to be an American, Ryjov said: "It's about freedom,
safety and opportunity in life. You have no fear. The former Soviet
Union use to be driven
by fear. Here you don't have that fear."